Facsimile recorder



Dec. 23, 1952 R. J. WISE FACSIMILE RECORDER Filed Feb. 10, 1947 INVENTOR.

R. J. WISE 7 7 Mid AT ORNEY Patented Dec. 23, 1952 FAG SIMILE RECORDER Raleigh J. Wise, Dunellen, N. J., assignor to The Western Union Telegraph Company, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application February 10, 1947, Serial No. 727,607

(Cl. 3 i6,33)

9 Claims.

The present invention relates to a facsimile recorder and more particularly to novel apparatus for reproducing pictures, printed matter, writing, and the like, by selective application of pigment, ink or other coloring matter on a suitable recording medium.

In my Patent No. 2,205,450, granted June 25, 1940, and entitled Method of and Apparatus for Recording Signals Electrically," I have shown a facsimile recorder in which a suitable marking material is applied to a continuously rotating member selectively in accordance with received facsimile signals and transferred from such member in successive elemental areas to a paper web to build up the facsimile record thereon. The present invention embodies the transfer feature of the foresaid patent, one of the objects thereof being to apply the marking material to the recording web in successive lines, as distinguished from successive elemental areas.

Another object of the invention is to provide a facsimile recorder in which the marking material is applied to the recording medium while the latter is at rest.

A still further object is to provide a facsimile recorder of the ink transfer type in which finer definition is obtained and in which blurring of the record is eliminated.

A further object is to produce a recorder which may be operated at high speed.

Other objects and advantages will hereinafter appear.

In accordance with the present invention the transfer means comprises an endless belt upon the edge of which marking material is selectively applied in accordance with the received facsimile signals and from which the marking material is intermittently transferred to a stationary web, arranged to be intermittently fed past the transfer position. The belt is suitably driven so as to move continuously past the ink receiving position and intermittently past the ink transfer position, proper phasing of the ink receiving and transfer operations being controlled by received line signals originating at the transmitter.

The invention will be more fully understood by reference to the accompanying drawings wherein the single figure is a fragmentary perspective view showing the essential elements of a facsimile recorder embodying the present invention.

In the arrangement shown, recording is effected on continuous web 9 drawn from a rotatably mounted supply roll i0, past aguide roller II by a feed roller I2 provided with suitable pressure rolls It. The feed roller I2 is advanced intermittently in short steps of the order of magnitude of one-hundredths of an inch by a ratchet stepping mechanism comprising a pawl i4, operated by a magnet l5 and engaging a ratchet wheel l6 having on its shaft a gear I! meshing with a gear l8 fixed to the feed roller I2.

The ink transfer member in the present illustration comprises an endless belt or tape 22 composed of steel, cellulose acetate, or other suitable material, having a series of equally spaced feed holes 2| therein and arranged to slide through a guide block 22 disposed across the face of the Web 9 in such position as to maintain the .rear edge 23 of the belt parallel to and slightly out of contact with the web 9. From the guide 22 the belt passes over a toothed drive roller 24 adapted to engage with the feed holes 2| and to pull the belt through the guide block 22 a distance of one complete scanning line on each full rotation thereof. The drive wheel 24 is driven from a continuously operating shaft 25 through 9, friction clutch 26 and is held against rotation by a stop arm 21 engaging with a stop 28 formed on the stop disk 29. The stop arm 21 is released for one revolution, at appropriate times, by a suitably arranged magnet 30, all as is well understood in the art.

The belt 20 passes from the feed roller 24 into an expandable loop 3| and thence between a pair of guide rollers 32 and over a second toothed feed wheel 33 driven similarly to feed wheel 24 from a continuously rotating shaft 34 through the friction clutch 35 under control of the stop arm 36 and its actuating magnet 31. The tape or belt then passes from feed wheel 33 into a second loop 38 which carries a roller 39 mounted on the end of a tape lever 40 pivoted at 4|. From theloop 38 the belt passes over a guide roller A2 and thence into the guide block 22.

Ink or other marking material is applied to the edge of the belt 20 by an inkingstrand, such as a silk thread 43, which extends across but is normally spaced from the edge of the belt 22. The thread 43 is moved continuously past the edge of the belt during a recording period in any suitable manner, and in the embodiment shown is drawn from one of a pair of spools 43a and 43b and is rewound on the other spool, it being understood that the spools 43a and 43b are provided with any suitable driving means arranged to reverse the direction of movement of the thread whenever the supply from either spool nears exhaustion. As shown in the drawings, the spools 43a and 4319 are driven alternately from the shaft 44 of the feed wheel 53, by the bevelled gear 45 adapted to mesh alternately with the gears 46 and 4? carried by the shaft 45%. When the shaft 48 is shifted to the left, gears and 46 engage, as also do gears 49 and 5%, carried respectively by shaft 48 and the shaft iii of spool 43a. When the shaft 48 is shifted to the right, gears 45, 47 and gears 52, 53 engage to rotate the spool 53?). The shifting of the shaft 43 may be controlled through any appropriate mechanism, such as a toggle lever 54 actuated by suitable mechanism controlled by a knot or other enlargement of the thread. As shown, the thread in passing from spool 43a, for instance, operates a suitable switch lever to close a pair of contacts 56 which complete an operating circuit to a toggle operating magnet 57.! whereby to shift the shaft 48 to the right, thereby disconnecting spool 63a from the driving shaft 44 and connecting spool 43! thereto.

Similar switch mechanism (not shown) is actuated by the thread leaving the spool 43bt0 operate a second toggle magnet 58 to reverse the direction of movement of the thread whenever the supply of spool 332) nears exhaustion. Obviously any other suitable reversing mechanism could be employed.

The inked thread 43 in its passage between spools 43a and 43?; passes over guide rollers 59 and E9 and through the bight of a bifurcated lever 61 which forms an extension of the armature of the recordingmagnet 62. This magnet may, by way of example, be any suitable loud speaker unit either of the permanent magnet type or having separately'excited field coils.

Incoming facsimile signals received overthe line L are supplied to the recording unit 62 through an amplifier 63 and rectifying'unit 64.

The operation of the apparatus is as follows. The rectified incoming signals applied to the recording magnet 62 oscillate the armature 6| to move the inking ribbon 43 against the edge of the be1t20 in response to marking signals whereby to apply thereto a spot or line of ink, the length of which depends upon the length of the marking signal. If it is assumed that the stop arm 21 of the feed Wheel 24 is in position to hold this wheel at rest and that magnet 31 is energized to move the stop arm 36 from the stop disk 29, to permit the feed wheel 33 to rotate continously, and further that the loop of tape 33 between the feed wheel 33 and the guide 22 is sufliciently short so that the tape lever 4c is elevated to such a position as to permit the'contacts Hi to remain open, then as the belt 31 is. continuously rotated by its feed wheel, 33, the incoming facsimile signals will be laid down in the former ink or pigment spots upon the edge ofthe belt 2i). When the loop 38 enlarges sufliciently to permit the tape lever to close the contactsi'iil; a circuit will be completed therethrough to the release magnet 30 whereuponthe stop arm" 21 will be removed from the stop disk 29 to permit the feed roller 24 to make a single revolution. Indoing so the tape 3| will be drawn through the guide 22 a distance equal to the widthcf: the recording line tobe printed upon the web Iii. At the start of this movement, the tape loop3i') is decreased in size, opening contacts ill and permitting the stop arm 21 to drop backso as to engage the stop disk 29 at the end of the revolution. During rotation of the feed wheel 24; a cam ii on the cam disk 12 engages a contact F3 to complete a circuit to the line stepping magnet l5 thereby advancing the web 9 a distance equal to one scanning line which may be of the order of magnitude of one-hundredth of an inch. At the completion of the revoluticn of the feed wheel 24 and just as it comes to rest, the contacts 14 are closed by the cam member H to energize a slow-to-operate relay 15, the delay in operation of which is sufiiciently long to insure that the tape 20 has completed its movement, whereupon it operates to connect the condenser 16 through the winding of a solenoid 11 to thereby operate the same and drive the bail 1'3 against the web 9, thereby to force the paper against the edge of the belt 20 and thus to take an ink impression from the belt. The stroke of the solenoid 71 preferably is such that the bail l8 strikes the paper by virtue of its overthrow, which together with the stationary condition of the paper produces a sharp impression thereon. The magnet 15 is shown as remaining energized during the rest period of the feed roller 24 but due to the discharge action of condenser 16, the solenoid TI is energized only momentarily. As the feed roller 24 is released for the succeeding revolution, relay l5 releases permitting the coin denser 76 to be recharged by the batterysupplylil in readiness for the next operating stroke.

As the belt 28 passes from the feed. roller 24 to the feed roller 33, the marking edge thereof is drawn past a cleaning roller 80 which serves to remove the ink previously deposited thereon and condition it to receive a fresh supplyjfrom the inking thread 43.

it will be understood that the-start magnet 37 may be energized by any suitable phasing signal at the beginning of each'message in. amanner well understood in the: art, and that it remains energized throughout the'recording cycle:0f the message, permitting the belt to move continuously past the inking ribbon during the reception of a complete message, whereas-the'movement of the belt 23 past the web 9 is effected in a step-bystep movement. The mannerof controlling the start magnet 37 may be effected in the manner disclosed in the patent to Wise et al., No. 2,355,868, granted September 16, 1941, for operation of the start magnet 43 of such patent. Briefly the aforesaid. pa-tent discloses a facsimile transmitter adapted to normally transmita certain carrier frequency over the outgoingline when the transmitter is idle, different from the'carrier frequency employed for the. facsimile signals, the change from the idling frequency to the signaling frequency being effected at the start of transmission and at the. commencement of a line of scanning. In other words, the change, from one frequency to the other constituted a, phasing signal. As illustrated on the present drawing, this idling frequency is conducted by a branch circuit 8| leading from the receiving; amplifier 63 to, a filter or tuner 82 feeding into a detector 83 the output of which passes through the winding of a relay 84. As long as the transmitter is idle the filtered and rectified idling carrier maintains the relay 84 energized and the armature thereof on its front contact. However, upon interruption of the idling carrier, at thecommencement ofthe first line of scanning, the relay 84 releases and remains deenergized throughout the facsimile transmission. The release of relay 84 causes the stop magnet 31 to be operated to retain the stop arm 36 continuously withdrawn as long as the transmission continues, that is until completion of the message or pictured transmission. The belt 20 therefore is drawn continuously past the marking thread 43 and the complete picture or message is recorded thereon.

At the end of the message or pictured transmission the idling carrier is again applied to the line L as disclosed in the aforesaid patent, thus again energizing relay 84, causing the start magnet 31 to release and return the arm 36 into position to stop the feed wheel 33 and the belt in such position that the next message will be properly positioned on the belt relative to the web 9.

The drawing has been made illustrative only of the principle of the invention, it being understood that the invention may be embodied in any suitable commercial structure. Therefore, I do not intend being limited to the particular construction shown but contemplate all structures and modifications coming within the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a facsimile recorder, a linear memberhaving a sharply defined edge, means for moving said member past a recording position, means for applying a marking medium to said edge in accordance with received facsimile signals, a second record receiving member comprising a web or sheet, means for intermittently moving said first member transversely across said web or sheet, and timed means operable during the stationary intervals of said linear member for impressing against said web or sheet a marked length of said first member corresponding substantially to the width of said web or sheet which thereby receives an entire line of signal marks at each impression, and means for advancing said web or sheet after each such impression.

2. In a facsimile recorder, an endless belt having spaced feed holes therein, a feed wheel for said belt, a record impressing member disposed adjacent one edge of said belt, means responsive to received facsimile signals for initiating signals for initiating the operation of said feed wheel whereby to move said belt past said record impressing member, said latter member being responsive to received facsimile signals to deposit a marking medium on said edge in accordance with elemental areas of the facsimile record to be produced, a second feed wheel spaced from the first feed wheel, a record receiving web between said feed wheels, means controlled by said belt for intermittently actuating said second feed wheel to advance said predetermined length of said belt past said web, means operative at the completion of said advancement for transferring the marking medium from said belt to said web and. means for advancing said web a distance corresponding to a single scanning line between each transfer operation.

3. A facsimile recorder comprising an endless belt having a sharply defined edge, inking means extending across said edge, means responsive to received facsimile signals for applyin ink from said means to said edge in accordance with elemental areas of the record to be reproduced, means operative during a recording cycle to move said belt past said inking means in a continuous movement, means for accumulating a predetermined length of said belt upon which recording has been effected, means for intermittently advancing said accumulated length of belt into a printing position, means for supporting a fiat sheet adjacent said printing position, timed means for moving the sheet against the recorded edge of the belt while the latter is in stationary printing position, whereby the signals recorded on the edge of the belt are printed on said sheet in a scanning line having the same width as the edge of the belt, and other timed means for ad vancing said sheet a distance equal to one scanning line after each printing operation.

4. Facsimile recording mechanism comprising a flexible record receiving tape movable lengthwise, means for recording facsimile signals on the edge of a continuously movable portion of said tape, means for moving a measured length of recorded tape intermittently across a fiat record receiving sheet, and a timed device operable during the stationary intervals of said length of recorded tape for transferring a line of recording from the edge of the tape to the sheet at each operation of said device while said recording means continues to operate on a moving portion of the tape, the width of each printed line on said sheet being equal to the thickness of the edge of said tape.

5. Facsimile recording mechanism comprising two record receiving members, one of which is a tape and the other a sheet, driving means for said tape,-inking means for recording facsimile signals on one-edge of said tape while it is moving at uniform speed, means for holding said sheet flat opposite the recorded edge of said tape and parallel to said edge, means for holding a straight measured length of recorded tape stationary at periodic intervals in parallel printing relation to said sheet each measured length of recorded tape being equal to the length of a scanning line on said sheet, and automatic means for printing the stationary lines of recorded signals successively on said sheet while said recording means continues to operate said automatic means including mechanism for advancing said sheet after each printing operation a distance equal to one scanning line, which has a width equal to the thickness of the edge of said tape.

6. A facsimile recorder comprising a record receiving sheet, a movable tape extending across said sheet, means for recording facsimile signals on the edge of a continuously moving portion of said tape, means for intermittently holding a straight recorded length of said tape stationary in operative parallel relation to a fiat portion of said sheet while said recording means continues to operate, a device for moving said fiat portion of the sheet against a stationary recorded length of tape for transferring a line of signals to said sheet at each operation of said device, means for advancing said sheet a distance of one scanning line after each transfer operation to produce a line by line recording, and means controlled by said tape for automatically advancing the tape transversely of the sheet after each transfer operation.

7. In a facsimile recorder, the combination of means for supporting a record receiving sheet in fiat condition, a fiexible tape supported for lengthwise movement, means for continuously moving a slack section of said tape at uniform speed, a guide for holding a measured length of another section of said tape in straight rigid condition with the edge of the tape facing the fiat portion of said sheet, timed means for moving said straight rigid section of the tape intermittently at periodic intervals, means for depositing marking material on the edge of the moving slack section of the tape in accordance with received facsimile signals, and means for transferring said deposited material from the edge of the straight rigid section of the tape onto said sheet during the stationary intervals of said rigid tape section while the slack section of the tape continues to record facsimile signals.

8. In a facsimile recorder, the combination of a first driving wheel connected. to be operated continuously at a uniform speed during a recording operation, a second driving wheel connected to operate intermittently at periodic intervals, a flexible record receiving tape operated jointly by said wheels, at record receiving sheet operated intermittently for line-by-line recording, means for recording facsimile signals on the edge of a continuously moving portion of said flexible tape, and automatic mechanism operated during the stationary intervals of the second driving wheel for transferring a measured line of said signals from the edge of said tape to said sheet at each operation of the transfer mechanism.

9. In a facsimile recorder, a flexible tape supported for lengthwise movement, means for operating said tape, a magnetic device for printing received facsimile signals on the edge of said tape While it is moving, and timed means for successively transferring measured lengths of said signal marks to a sheet for line-by-line recording.

RALEIGH J. WISE.

REFERENGES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 839,927 Hawkins Jan. 1, 1907 1,045,796 Kerner "a", Nov. 26, 1912 1,253,305 Tulloss Jan. 15, 1918 1,938,990 Woodward Dec. 12, 1933 1,989,375 Meyercord r Jan. 29, 1935 2,109,109 Finch Feb. 22, 1938 2,175,388 Gurley Oct. 10, 1939 2,176,680 Nichols Oct. 17, 1939 2,336,932 Fraim Dec. 14, 1943 2,353,631 Bliss July 18, 1944 FOREIGN PATENTS I Number Country Date 343,935 Germany Nov. 11, 1921 

